Flash flood displaces 20,000 in Jessore

The affected people have taken shelter in 18 schools, colleges and madrassahs and on high lands, according to official sources.

The surging water from Kobodak river has inundated 42 villages in Monirampur and another 12 in Keshabpur, where crisis of food and drinking water is prevailing, they said.

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Five metric tonnes of rice and twenty cartoons of dates have so far been distributed among the affected people in the camps. An acute crisis of fodder is prevailing in the area.

The floodwater has damaged over 700 shops and paralysed life in the area.

According to agriculture and fisheries department sources, the flood has damaged aman crop on over 6000 acres of land and washed away shrimps from about 5000 acres and fishes from over 10,000 ponds in Monirampur upazila alone. The situation in Keshabpur upazila is also similar.

Prices of essentials are skyrocketing and transport services on many routes have been suspended.

Jessore Deputy Commissioner Mahfuzur Rahman could not be contacted as he was visiting the affected areas with relief goods.

Twenty-eight academic institutions in areas have been closed sine die as those have been inundated.

Some sources said south-western districts may face a devastating flood this year as most of the rivers including Ichamati and Sonai, flowing from India, are swelling.